I fell into writing about health shortly after grad school, where I realized I didn't want to work in a lab for the rest of my life! My areas of interest are the brain and behavior, as well as what influences the decisions we make about our health, and how the media helps and hinders people's understanding of health issues. As an undergraduate, I studied English Literature and Biopsychology at Vassar College, and got my PhD in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at CUNY's Graduate Center in New York City, where I grew up and live now. My day job is as Associate Editor with the health website, TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com. My work has appeared in several other publications, including TheAtlantic.com and YogaGlo.com, and I'm particularly excited to join the Forbes health team. Email me at alicegwalton [at] gmail [dot] com .

Skipping Breakfast May Not Be Bad For Weight Loss After All

A new study questions the long-held notion that skipping breakfast is inherently bad for our health – or at least for our weight. Though earlier studies have found correlations between breakfast-eating and better health outcomes, few studies have put it to the test in randomized clinical trial, the gold standard in scientific research. In the new study, dieters who ate breakfast lost no more weight than people who skipped breakfast. But keep in mind that the study only looked at weight outcomes – not at any other aspect of health, like cardiovascular or metabolic health. So, the take-home message is that skipping breakfast may be OK for weight loss, but how it affects health overall is still up for grabs.

The study authors wanted to fill in a hole left by previous research: Most studies have tried to correlate diet with health by asking participants to report on their diets and then looking at the participants’ health. This is not a very accurate way to analyze things, so the new study wanted to do better. “Previous studies have mostly demonstrated correlation, but not necessarily causation,” said study author Emily Dhurandhar, assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior at University of Alabama Birmingham. “In contrast, we used a large, randomized controlled trial to examine whether or not breakfast recommendations have a causative effect on weight loss, with weight change as our primary outcome.”

Breakfast (Photo credit: jonolist)

So she and her team had over 300 overweight and obese participants consume diets that included either eating or skipping breakfast.

At the end of 16 weeks, the two groups, the breakfast-eaters and breakfast-skippers, both lost about the same amount of weight.

The authors say that these results are noteworthy enough to actually change the recommendations that doctors and nutritionists make to their patients trying to lose weight. “Now that we know the general recommendation of ‘eat breakfast every day’ has no differential impact on weight loss, we can move forward with studying other techniques for improved effectiveness,” says Dhurandhar. “We should try to understand why eating or skipping breakfast did not influence weight loss, despite evidence that breakfast may influence appetite and metabolism.”

The last point that Dhurandhar brings up is an important caveat: There are very good studies that suggest that skipping breakfast does influence our health in other meaningful ways. For instance, it’s well known to affect metabolism, since it forces the body to stay in a fasting state for a longer period of time. Last year, a study found that skipping breakfast was linked to coronary heart disease, presumably because the extra time fasting leads to a rise in a group of factors that together increase heart risk. “Prolonged fasting,” says study author Leah Cahill, “leads to increases in diastolic and systolic blood pressure, blood concentrations of insulin, triglycerides, free fatty acids and LDL-cholesterol, and to decreases in blood concentrations of HDL-cholesterol.”

So skipping breakfast isn’t without its drawbacks. While the current study does suggest that skipping breakfast may not be so bad for weight loss, it doesn’t address its other effects. But the best advice is probably to do what feels natural for you: If you’re a born breakfast-eater, keep it up, healthily. And if breakfast isn’t your thing, it’s probably fine to skip it. Just be sure to eat smartly in the rest of your meals throughout the day.

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Base on the article I have read, that the dieters either breakfast skipper and breakfast eater have the same result to their weight loss.But we know that skippng breakfast may cause a coronary heart disease so for me I want to a dieter which is eating breakfast so that I can assure my healt

Base on the article I have read, that the dieters either breakfast skipper and breakfast eater have the same result to their weight loss.But we know that skippng breakfast may cause a coronary heart disease so for me I want to a dieter which is eating breakfast so that I can assure my health

But I try not to skip my breakfast, as this helps me get effective results when it comes to weight loss. I make protein smoothies for breakfast to boost my metabolism for all day long. But if I’m too busy, I just consume natural weight loss shakes as replacement for my breakfast.

Another group of the endless examples of over educated individuals preferring writing to work.

Result: Different strokes for different folks. First written on the walls of caves and repeated in the ancient scrolls providing variations for the imagination of those who also preferred to stay in school rather than become productive participants.

Just imagine how valuable these folks will be after the great apocalypse in the reconstruction of the world.

1. Water his might sound silly, but always have some cold water on hand. Get yourself a pitcher or something that you can keep water in the ice box.

2. Milk. You should always have some low fat milk on hand. Cereal in the morning is a great way to get a good easy meal.

3. Fruit. Always have some fruit on hand. It is great for snacking. You can eat fruit and instead of potato chips.

4. Carrots. These are great for snacking. Just add some low fat dip and you have a snack that will rival any deep fried snacks.

5. Peanut butter. This is a great way to get some protein without having to worry about the fat. Use it on your toast for breakfast instead of butter.

6. Eggs. You need these for baking and other specialties. Also they are great for a protein filled breakfast.

7. Yogurt. This is great for hot summer days. You can make tons of drinks out of this. Also, it is great with chicken. You should learn a bit about Indian cooking for more ways to use yogurt. Indians love yogurt and eat it often.

You have point..Even Robin Sharma has mentioned in his book about do not eat anything till noon…May be you can only rely on fresh fruits and juices….Get weight loss diet plan to follow at home http://360completeliving.com/weight-loss-diet-plans-to-follow-at-home/

Impressive article with good advises how to lose weight. By the way, I read article about metabolic cooking which helps burn fat faster so I gave it a try. I couldn’t have been more excited about the results, as I am now 40 pounds lighter than when I first started using it. The article was very helpful to me — if you want to check it out yourself you can read it here http://mysportresource.com/metabolic-cooking/